Toronto Mike'd: The Official Toronto Mike Podcast - Paul Langlois: Toronto Mike'd #1292
Episode Date: July 17, 2023In this 1292nd episode of Toronto Mike'd, Mike chats with Paul Langlois about his new band, The Tragically Hip and so much more before Paul plays live in the TMDS studio. Toronto Mike'd is proudly b...rought to you by Great Lakes Brewery, Palma Pasta, The Moment Lab, Ridley Funeral Home and Electronic Products Recycling Association.
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Welcome to episode 1292 of Toronto Mic'd.
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Getting hip to the hip.
An evening for the Downey Wenjack Fund. The Moment Lab. Brand
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Funeral Home. Pillars of the community since 1921. Today, making his Toronto Mike debut, is Paul Langlois.
Welcome, Paul.
Thanks a lot for having me, Mike.
Did you come straight from breakfast television?
We just did, yes.
We pulled it off.
We did one song and a short little interview, and I think we pulled it off.
I haven't got any angry texts
from family or anything.
So is that like,
do you remember,
is that Sid Sixero?
I'm just curious.
Is Liza Fromer there this week?
Like, do you remember
who was chatting you up
on breakfast?
Liza and Devo.
Oh, Devo.
Okay, so maybe Sid
got the week off or whatever.
Liza, of course,
is like a throwback.
She was the second ever
like co-host after Ann Romer
and then Dina replaceder and then Dina
replaced her and then Dina left. And now
Liza's filling in. I think
I just want to put an endorsement out there. Liza should
be the full-time co-host on Breakfast Television.
I'm just throwing it out there. I'm with you on that.
We used to watch
Liza years and years ago.
My wife reminded me of that
because as soon as she heard her name, she's
like, oh, we used to watch her all the time
and then once I saw her
in person this morning
I was like that's right
and she looks great
better than even she used to
she's like a fine wine
you're a fan of wine right
like a fine wine lies a fromer's aging
yes absolutely
and you know wine wine's all right.
Wine's all right.
Beer's better.
I'm going to crack this beer if it's okay.
So, yeah.
So, I'm going to.
So, this is a beer that sponsors you.
Great Lakes Brewery.
Fantastic brewery.
You've got yourself a longer.
On the mic.
You have to lift it up and put it right in front of that mic.
I know.
You have a lot of work here to do.
Okay.
This is Paul.
Okay.
So, enjoy your Great Lakes.
And that second crack, I want to let everybody know,
we're not alone in this room, Paul and I.
And Paul, long time coming.
I was going to say long time running.
Big fan of yours.
It's a pleasure to finally meet you.
Oh, thanks a lot.
Nice to meet you.
But let's shout out the other people in the room.
One is actually on a microphone here.
Introduce Greg Ball for everybody.
How do you know Greg?
Well, I've known Greg for years and years. on a microphone here uh introduce greg ball for everybody uh how do you know greg well uh i know
i've known greg for years and years um kingston and um you know we're buddies but also musical
uh partners of sort and um i produced i think three of uh greg's records uh with his band and
um we have a another side outfit called the Campfire Lawyers Club.
And this is Greg Ball from St. Mary's, Ontario.
That's the home of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.
Oh, it certainly is.
Yeah.
Hi there.
Greg, nice to meet you.
Happy you're here.
I hope you enjoy your fresh craft beer from Great Lakes.
I'll even send you guys home with some Great Lakes beer as well.
Travelers.
Travelers.
Appreciate it.
So, Greg, did you play on Breakfast Television this morning?
I certainly did.
It was a little bit nerve-wracking because Jake was watching me.
Oh, there's another person in this room?
Okay, we're going to get to Jake.
Jake's already in FOTM, so everybody knows the great Jake Gould.
Now, what song did you guys play this morning?
We played It Matters to Me, which is the first song on
my newest record.
So that's your new single, Paul.
Yep.
And the album's called Guess What?
and it came out on Friday.
I personally witnessed
eight people buy it yesterday.
So, you know, it's a start.
Well, listen,
you've raised the bar.
You've got a big bar to reach there. We're going to talk about all of this but uh if you played it matters to me on breakfast
television here i'm just now because i just found out that greg's here and he's got a guitar
if you play will you play a song in this episode of toronto mic we will play a song yeah we're
unless you want different uh we know i want a song We have a song in mind that's on the record,
and it's called I Feel Real Yo.
Okay, so that's where I was going with that.
I'm happy to, while we chat about the new album,
I got to hear more details about who's in the Paul Langlois band.
I have It Matters to Me loaded up.
I was not going to play It Matters to Me
if you guys were going to play It Matters to Me,
because that's kind of dumb.
So I was just trying to fish to find out what song you might play on this program. So you're not going to play It matters to me if you guys were going to play it matters to me because that's kind of dumb so i was just trying to fish to find out what song you might play on this program so
you're not going to play it matters to me no no we'd like to play i feel really old because it's
you know it's a it's more emotional kind of song okay do you mind if i play a little of it matters
to me the new single and then i want to find out about the the new work you're doing paul and then
i want to find out how it compares to the old work.
And I might have a couple of questions about the old work.
Are you guys ready to kick out It Matters to Me here?
Yes, absolutely.
Are you ready, Greg?
Is It Matters to Me or I Feel Real You?
No, you're not playing now.
I'm going to play this.
I'm ready for Mike to kick it out.
I'm new at this.
Greg, by the way, we're going to kick this out.
But real quick, what is the name of your
band that Paul produced Greg
it was just Greg Ball
it was somebody told
us that it was a singer
songwriter sort of album
and I had to go with it
I wanted to name the band but
none of my ideas were very good
but how do you score a member of the Tragically Hip
as your producer like to me this is
top shelf man well we met ideas were very good. But how do you score like a member of the tragically hip as your producer? Like to me, this is a,
this is top shelf,
man.
Uh,
well,
we met,
uh,
over the bar.
I'm a,
I'm a bartender and he was in there just having one quick one,
quick pint,
just a quick pint.
Uh,
and actually,
uh,
we ended up playing together because,
a friend of ours,
uh,
Jim Tidman asked me to play in the Campfire Liars Club.
We kind of met on stage.
Sort of met on stage.
Okay.
And then you got Paul to produce your Greg Ball album.
That's cool.
I sort of had to beg a little bit.
Just a little tiny bit.
And straight up, Paul, is he good?
He's very good.
Very prolific songwriter and um i was
skeptical when he gave me uh it was a cassette actually um and i just thought uh i don't know
if i want to listen to this and as soon as i heard it it was like okay this guy's really good and
and we had a beautiful thing there for a while.
And now he's in my band.
He's in the Paul Langlois band.
Okay, there's the first answer.
Okay, because I want to find out everybody in this band.
So if anybody passes you a, was it like a CD?
What did he pass you?
A link?
Like, what did he pass today?
Did you really pass it?
Well, maybe it wasn't a cassette.
It was a CD.
Yeah, it was a CD.
I'd be worried no one could play the cassette.
Like, here's my music here. It's like, what year is this? And he's showing a cassette here. Yeah, it was a CD. I'd be worried no one could play the cassette. Like, here's my music here.
It's like, what year is this?
And he's showing a cassette here.
Yeah, that's right.
And a cassette player, which is impressive.
I thought that was an iPhone.
I had to explain this the other day.
The reason I have the tapes and everything,
it's not that I'm listening to tapes,
but I produced the Humble and Fred show.
And Fred from Humble and Fred had a bunch of tapes in his attic.
And he said, hey, can you digitize these? These might be old Humble and Fred shows. And I produced the show. And Fred from Humble and Fred had a bunch of tapes in his attic. And he said, hey, can you digitize
these? These might be old Humble and Fred
shows. And I produced the show, so of course I'm
happy to digitize it and have old Humble
and Fred shows. And then I'm going through the tapes
to digitize them into MP3s.
And it's not Humble and Fred. It's actually
more like Scott Turner,
May Potts, and Fred.
These are all recordings from
the 18 months that Fred
was with another radio station in the early 90s. Not as fruitful as we hope, but still fun to hear.
Okay, without further ado, you threw it to me
We thought I was fine, I thought I was free
Other factors came in, and some just went out
I thought of you here, I thought of you here I thought of the doubt
It takes time to see
It takes time to know
It takes will to lead
It takes strength to show
It takes will to lead. It takes strength to show.
It takes all your time to know where to go.
It takes all you've got to know where to go.
I'm feeling like I'm falling into sacrifice.
Been losing all my faith And all I can decide
I'm hoping that I'm getting it
Like I said
It matters to me
It matters to no
It matters to know It matters to me
Yeah
Sounds great in the cans, man.
Awesome.
Yeah, I like it.
I'm happy with this record.
Actually, almost a little bit proud of it.
That's okay.
You're allowed to be proud of it.
Why do you hesitate there? Is that because you're Canadian?
You're almost ashamed of the pride you feel in this art you created.
No, not ashamed, but I didn't really want to do it.
And I sort of really have to coax a song out of myself.
I sort of really have to coax a song out of myself.
And I kind of can't believe I did it.
And I wouldn't have been able to do it with the guys in the band and their enthusiasm.
And just kind of, you know, I'm just very happy that this has happened.
Well, let's name check them right now.
Run down the members of the Paul Langlois band.
Okay, well, there's Greg Ball here and he plays guitar
and sings beautiful backups.
We got Joe
Karskalen on guitar. He's also
in the Camp Fire Lars Club.
Good buddy. And
he's kind of playing guitar and lead guitar.
Matt
Mulvihill is on bass. I was just noticing
his nice work
on this song, Matters to Me
another buddy
and then Bill Anglin
on the drums
who is a giant
and a giant killer
Who are your influences in this song?
I'll tell you who I hear a little bit of here
I hope you take this as a compliment
as intended as, but I hear a little
Neil Young
influence in this jam.
Yeah, maybe.
I mean, I've never...
I love Neil Young.
I've never felt like
he was a big influence,
but of course...
Maybe I just hear
Neil in everything.
Well, yeah,
he's an influence
on everything
and everybody.
So I take it as a total compliment.
And, you know, I just sort of write what comes out.
And the band sounds like we sound.
You know, it's not like we really discuss much.
We just kind of play the songs.
Okay.
There it goes.
That's the album again.
The album's called Guess What? Also a cut in the album. Also the final cut in the album. I listened to the album. That's the album again. The album's called Guess What?
Also a cut in the album.
Also the final cut in the album.
I listened to the album, loved it very much.
And this is your lead single,
and you're going to play another jam later,
which is awesome.
But this is what?
This is your third, Paul,
this is your third album,
like outside the Tragically Hip.
Do I have that right?
It is, yeah.
I made a couple,
like maybe one in 2010
and one in 2013. The first one was was called fix this head and it was just me
uh i played everything and it was a lonely experience just me and the engineer
and uh solitary experience but i got that out didn't tour it and then another record with a
band uh that rob baker was in uh kindly I didn't pay him a cent even though he
wanted ten grand and he real time yeah he played and we actually did it to her
we did 28 shows and 35 days across the country but the country it was in the
winter of 2013 and Greg ball and his band opened up and we were on a bus but the country froze it was in
december and so all the gigs were like minus 40 wow so getting people out was a bit challenging
so yeah this is my third one and i never thought i would do another but it's really because of of
the band guys that um i was able to get myself up to do it so how okay so i do uh let the fotms
fotm by the way paul means friend of toronto mike you paul i'm excited to announce paul you're now
an fotm friend excellent jake's been in the club for a while now you're in the exclusive club okay
i'm not surprised jake's been in the club and I appreciate being in the club.
It was a long negotiation to get Jake in the club.
Please don't think it was easy. Well, I know, yeah.
He's a bit
of a tough negotiator.
On that note, did you ever watch
Canadian Idol?
Is this a program you would tune in? I totally did
and I was totally
happy and proud that
Jake became a celebrity.
And I thought he was very good on the show.
I really honestly did.
So there were four judges on that show.
And then there was the host, Ben Mulrooney, who's become a bud this summer, actually.
And then there was John Doerr was doing a thing.
But of all of them, the only one that has kind of eluded me is, and I should probably talk to Jake about this later, but Zach Werner.
I don't know. Zach is kind of, I don a, and I should probably talk to Jake about this later, but Zach Werner, I don't know.
Zach is a kind of a,
I don't know where he's at.
I think he might be in Newfoundland,
but all the other,
all the other,
you know,
judges have dropped by,
but he's eluding me too.
You're trying to,
well,
he owes me money.
I thought so.
You know,
I heard that he owes you money.
Okay.
So I have questions from FOTMs.
I'm going to get here,
but I'm, so when you started, I'm just curious about the uh the first two albums you put out
you know without the hip earlier like during the the hips run there i did read somewhere i want you
to maybe speak to this but like members of the hip doing things outside the tragically hip was this
like something that was discussed or was it frowned upon like because all of a sudden i it seems like with coke machine glow which was gordon downey's uh first solo album like
that's oh one so you're well into your run we'll get to that but uh like was that like the sign of
like oh we can do things you know parallel to the band outside the band you know um it was but not for like about a year after when he first did that honestly we
were all like why i mean right you got us over here hello guard um and you know we had done well
and uh he was looking to stretch out and it took a little while I think for everyone to get
used to it and
try and not take offense to it
because once we all
heard the record and I actually sang on it
and it was a kind gesture on
his part he asked me to sing on it
backups on a
song or two and
you know once we sort of
got used to the idea it was like yeah well i guess
this is okay we've been together a long time and it's okay to do your own thing and that sort of
inspired i think robbie was maybe first with strippers union right and then um i did a solo
thing and everyone just kind of got up to their own thing and we all realized that it was okay but no it was never discussed gorgeous went ahead
and did it and we all kind of reacted in our own private way so naturally i had i actually had so
i was speaking of jim cuddy and jim cuddy does this thing where it's like blue rodeo yeah here's
blue rodeo here's blue rodeo here's the jim cuddy band and they kind of like six months on six
months off it's some kind of weird system he's got going, but it seems to work for him, but I'm always curious,
is there any music outside the hip that was like, created during
the run of the hip that you thought, oh, maybe that should have been a Tragically Hip song?
Or maybe that could have been a Tragically Hip song? Well, Gord said to me
on my, you know, we didn't really comment
too heavily, I mean, I told Gord I really
like Coke Machine Glow and there was a book
that came with it.
A book of poetry.
And I love that.
So I was quite complimentary.
No one really mentioned anything
about my record except
Gord one day when
for some reason he had just heard
Fix This Head, which is a title track of
my first record he's like that should have been a hip song and i was like there you go well i kind
of threw it by you guys like in a funny not with lyrics because you write the lyrics but you know
i threw the music by you guys and no one really seemed to excited no one seemed excited so it's like okay screw that that's
mine interesting i'm always curious about you know i've never been in a band so uh you know
i'm always curious about the inner inner politics in a band it's uh fascinating to me yeah we were
always you know very nice to each other and um so it was never like, oh, that idea sucks.
You suck.
We were never like that.
It was always just if, like the music for Fix This Head,
it just didn't catch on.
So no one brings it up again.
And everyone, we would always, if any individual really liked a jam idea from the day before you'd bring it up and so that's how things just kind of floated to the top uh was by the enthusiasm of one or two guys
and then the ones that weren't uh right and not uh great maybe um no one ever brought them up again
so that's how we stayed together.
I will tell you, I've had many, many artists
on this program, musicians, who have
shared a stage of the Tragically Hip.
And because I'm such a big Tragically Hip fan,
I'm a big THE Tragically Hip fan, Jake.
I don't want to screw that up there.
Do you care, Paul, if it's THE Tragically Hip,
or if I say I'm a big Tragically Hip fan?
It doesn't matter to me, no.
It doesn't matter to me.
I prefer the THE.
Okay.
Or the THE. Because, you know know it's awkward in some sentences okay so i'm a big the tragically hip fan uh with
with uh without a doubt and every time i talk to artists who have shared a stage with you i'll ask
like what was it like what were the hip like to you and to a t every musician i ask that question
to talk about what sweethearts you at. You're very good to your opening bands,
the bands you share a festival stage with or whatnot,
like very kind to these.
And I always wonder,
like I wonder at the time when the guys were just probably genuinely good
human beings,
right.
Um,
when they're being nice to people,
uh,
they're sharing a stage with,
like if they realize maybe 20,
20 years later,
these guys are going to be in someone's basement,
uh,
speaking on a mic that people are going to hear him,
you know,
critique how we treated them.
Yeah, they were dinks.
It's going to come out 20 years later on some guy's podcast,
whatever that is.
It was very important to us to be kind.
A lot of, you know, most of the bands that opened for us,
there was a reason for it.
It's because we wanted them to um so we would offer them the gig
and uh everyone was very kind the only little untruth is you know if you if you talk to
any of those guys like robbie or gordon singler or whatever you know yeah i watch them every night
and it's like no i went outside stage every night because i would sort of detour for a
smoke but i watched every band every night and gore down he really couldn't because he can't be
seen side stage before he goes on so it's just like but anyway yeah um that was one of the best
things uh about the whole experience is that we got to bring bands.
And you know who opened for us the most?
Can I get... The most shows?
The Watchmen?
No, but...
Sam Roberts?
Sam Roberts.
And they told me the last time we played with them
was their 93rd time opening for us.
It was an outdoor show in Montreal.
Wow.
I was like, seriously?
Anyway, 93 times.
See, I got on my second guess
because I have seen Sam Roberts
over there many, many times.
You know, I try to keep up with you guys.
But Stephen Dame,
there's a name you know, right?
Stephen Dame.
This is not the first time
you're hearing the name Stephen Dame.
He writes...
I do, yeah.
So you mentioned Sam Roberts.
He's a
smart guy yeah after the hip ended is the hip okay if i miss tragically like a hip's great okay
probably better than the tragic and i just want to say i added the because i'm respectful i see
steven only wrote after hip ended okay it's after the hip ended paul gifted one of his most iconic to us hip nerds anyways guitars
to sam roberts sam would often tell the story before using it on stage as he did at the cne
band shell in 2017 did paul ever gift any other guitars or offer any advice to any other canadian Canadian rockers? That's a great question. Yeah, I don't think
I ever gifted
any other guitars.
If I ever gave advice to
any
budding Canadian rockers,
I don't remember.
I would have said,
you're better out of it.
Don't do it. But no, I don't remember i would have said you're better out of it you know don't don't do it um but no i
don't think uh yeah you know i mean actually the only advice i think i consistently gave was you
have to get along you have to get lucky that it's the right people and if it's the right people then
you just need to work on you know making decisions together because that's
the toughest part of it is is you have to and especially scheduling and everyone wants a life
and all that kind of stuff so i know uh we just got very lucky that we were we stayed on the same
page through kids and tours and recording and just all that um we were able to figure out gradually
and we stay great friends.
So that's our biggest achievement.
Well, let me echo the sentiments of Andrew who wrote in
when I said Paul's making his Toronto Mike debut.
Andrew wrote in and said,
just tell him thanks from all of us.
I'm going to echo that sentiment.
How many summers, right, Greg?
Like the soundtrack of our summers are
the oh 100 and like tons of shows i went to a bunch of shows i was always a mess but i uh i
remember most of them well if you know what if you remember them you weren't there that's what i say
if you can remember those shows you weren't really there that is deep i think i stole that line about
the 60s but that's, he's maybe lying,
but it's the reason why he loves backup singing so much
is he says that he used to watch me.
That is, and rhythm guitar.
And that's why I moved to Kingston.
I'm sort of stalking you.
I thought it was for the Headstones.
No.
No.
I know if they're listening
I love you guys too but
oh man
so many places I want to go here I know we don't have forever
so I'm going to cook with gas here
Hamilton Mike writes in with his new album
to promote I was hoping
FOTMJ Gold would get Paul
on your show so that's Hamilton Mike thanks
Hamilton because FOTMJ Gold made
it happen on my birthday he told me Paul was coming over it was on my birthday I go that's Hamilton Mike. Thanks Hamilton. Cause FOTMJ gold made it happen.
Thank on my birthday.
He told me Paul was coming over.
It was on my birthday.
I go,
that's a nice birthday gift.
Okay.
Uh,
love Paul's first solo albums. And I'm eagerly anticipating this one.
Just a reminder to Hamilton Mike,
it's called guess what?
And it's available like now,
right now.
Okay.
Go get it.
Go get it.
And I have a,
another cut I might play here in a minute and we're going to get some live music. Okay. Go get it. Go get it. And I have another cut I might play here in a minute
and we're going to get some live music.
Okay.
To finish Hamilton Mike's great question,
I say love his solo albums.
I'm eagerly anticipating this one.
Please let him know he's one of my all-time favorite
rhythm guitar players and a major influence on my style.
So Hamilton Mike, another guy,
one of many people in this universe influenced by your style, Paul.
Well, thanks, Hamilton Mike.
I really appreciate it.
You know, it's an honor.
I think Dave Bedini said in his book that I look like I should be bagging groceries
and that the parts I play are so simple that I actually may have inspired more musicians
than anyone else because they look up and say,
well, I could do that,
which is a nice backhand compliment.
Thanks, Dave.
Love me some.
Real Static's another band I've seen open for the hip.
Okay, so off the top of your head,
I know you don't have metrics in front of you,
but if you had to guess,
who would you guess are the five bands who opened for the hip? Just off the top of your head, I know you don't have metrics in front of you, but if you had to guess, who would you guess are the five bands
who opened for the...
If you're just off the top of your head,
obviously Sam Roberts,
but you just...
What are, to round out the five,
five bands that have opened for the hip
the most often during the Tragically Hips run?
Well...
Won't hold you to it if you're wrong.
It's funny with the...
I call them the odds,
but I think it's just odds.
They opened for us a lot.
Now I'm just off the top of my head.
I wouldn't be able to sort of rank.
The Rayo Statics, of course.
Sons of Freedom were just a great band that we were really fans of.
And then for a more modern touch, Rural Alberta Advantage.
I don't like saying rural, so I call them R-A-A.
But they opened a wing of a tour, a bunch of dates,
and we really liked them.
And then they just played Mariposa,
as Greg and I and the Paul Langlois band did last weekend.
Amazing.
Yeah, and really good band.
So anyway, but there was so many
by Divine Right
that Feist was the guitar player in
and that's how we know Leslie
so just there's a pile
of bands I'm sorry if I didn't mention you
by Divine Right love it now Feist you mentioned
so Decan wrote in
any plans
I gotta know the answer to this
any plans to tour as the tragically hip with guest vocalists
like leslie feist like you did at the junos a few years back well the junos was a one-off and the
only reason we said yes is because jake or someone involved with jake had the idea of feist because
we were all against it no matter what who they
suggested and then all of a sudden it's like how about leslie feist and it was on a zoom call and
we were all like okay wow that doesn't sound like a bad idea and and so that was the only reason
just because of her and we did another thing with william prince Buffy St. Marie's 80th birthday.
Just a one-off, very tricky song of his,
and we're all fans of his.
So we have done it twice as a one-off,
and we're also agreed that we'll never say never,
but no.
No, you know, we're all kind of...
Never say never, but you will say no. We're all kind of like just no, no, you know, we're all kind of never, but you will say no.
We're all kind of like, just know until something,
some idea comes up. That's a good one.
And we haven't even jammed instrumentally. Like we're still,
we've found each other again. So we talk a lot,
obviously with Jake too. And you know, regular zoom calls,
we've got a studio, we we got a bunch of stuff going on
we're digging up old recordings
that people haven't heard and putting
out you know releases
and that's enough for us
but
we'll never say never that's
what we've just agreed to
agree on that but
I don't see it
personally okay Kevin Bailey wrote in he's got an idea agree on that. But I don't see it personally.
Okay, Kevin Bailey wrote in.
He's got an idea.
And I dropped this guy's name earlier just coincidentally.
But Kevin Bailey,
and I'm agreeing with Kevin on this one.
He says, the world needs a tragically hip Neil Young collaboration.
Maybe Neil and the guys.
I agree.
Look, I got Greg on board.
Jake's making a phone call
right now. I think he's going to close the deal.
Can I open?
Yes, you can. He'd be the perfect
opener. But Neil's not
going to do it.
Let's say he did do it. He said yes.
We're just spitballing here.
Again, none of this is binding.
Don't worry. No lawyers involved here.
But if Neil agreed, even if it was a one-off,
I don't know, some show, I don't know,
Downsview Park or something, what do I know?
But Neil Young, to raise money for some great charity
or something, Neil Young and the surviving members
of the Tragically Hip, would you be down?
Yeah, like if Neil is singing and we're playing behind him?
Yeah, that's exactly what I'm thinking.
Well, of course.
Of course we'd say yes.
Shake it on it, buddy.
We can do this.
Of course we'd say yes to that.
A TMLX 13 maybe at Great Lakes, I think, will get this going.
Yeah, but again, we're not going to get a hold of Neil.
And we're not going to push this.
He's in the Kawarthas right now.
I feel like you can bump into him in a restaurant
in Peterborough or something.
Yep.
Of course, we all love him,
but we're not the kind of guys
that are going to pick this.
It would be Jake's job to get over him.
That's what Jake, that's his role,
and I'm glad he's back doing that.
Can I open Jake?
Oh, Jake's no fool.
He's nodding yes.
He's nodding yes, bud.
Jamie Dew.
Okay, I'm glad Jamie Dew sent in a question
because I'm going to talk about something he's up to right now.
Jamie Dew writes,
the 14th of July was a big day.
You released, Paul, you released the new album,
which we've been talking about.
Guess what is the new album?
And Phantom Power turned 25 years old.
What do you remember, Paul, about those Phantom Power turned 25 years old. What do you remember, Paul,
about those Phantom Power sessions
and how do you feel the album stands
after 25 years?
Well, I'll answer that question,
but first off, I'll say
I didn't know that it was going to be the,
was it the 25th anniversary?
According to Jamie Doo,
I haven't done the math.
On Phantom Power on the day of my solo release.
That's a coincidence.
Well, it's just like Gord Sinclair is hogging the internet with his solo record.
And it's just like my solo record comes out and it's like, oh, there's another post from Gord.
And he's not even on social media.
But anyway, then I started to think of Phantom Power being on the same day.
Oh,
well that helps me,
right?
Cause I was in the band and,
and you were an instrumental member of that band.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
You know,
and we recorded that in bath with Steve Berlin from Los Lobos,
who is one of the smarter people I've ever met.
And one of the most hard to please as far as what you're doing you know as a producer
and so only good memories about that I think we were really hitting our stride to use a
I think Vapor Trails is on Phantom Power hitting our stride that's a lyric in vapor trails yes i think we were all just
kind of confident and we had the songs um in there that that we needed to have you know because we
needed to just keep getting better and phantom power to me is almost where we peaked. Wow. Okay. And Steve Berlin here.
Listeners of this program will know this song.
Jake doesn't have headphones on,
so he doesn't hear it,
but Jake would know this song.
But this was forever.
It's called Do the Murray.
It's Steve Berlin.
Let Mark Hebbshire use it for the opening theme
to Hebbsy on Sports.
So whenever somebody mentions Steve Berlin,
I'm obligated to play a little Do the Murray.
That is awesome. I love it.
Love it, love it. Okay, so I mentioned
Jamie Dew. Jamie Dew,
I'm now looking back at this poster.
I want to tell everybody, because I'm
certain many Tragically Hip
fans are listening to us right now,
and this is a chance for me to say
a couple of things. One is that TMLX13,
which is my event,
Jake, I hope to see you there,
is August 31st, 6 to 9 p.m.
at Great Lakes Brewery in Southern Etobicoke,
and everybody should come
because Palma Pasta is going to feed them.
That's delicious, authentic Italian food.
Everyone gets free food from Palma Pasta,
a free drink from Great Lakes.
It's going to be a great, great, great night.
The very next day, which is September 1st, 2023,
is Getting Hip to the Hip,
an evening for the Downey Wenjack Fund, and it's 7.30 at the Rec Room. I urge everyone listening
to go to gettinghiptothehip.com and use the promo code FOTM10. That's FOTM10. You'll save 10% on
tickets. I will be there. We have a Tragically Hip cover band.
We have a live recording of Getting Hip to the Hip.
There's prizes.
There's so much great stuff going on.
So that's where you go.
Gettinghiptothehip.com and use the promo code FOTM10.
Join me September 1st, the day after TMLX13 at the Rec Room for Getting Hip to the Hip.
There you go.
Okay.
Where did I want to go next? So many did I want to go next? I like it.
So many places I want to go next.
I like Jamie.
Jamie, too.
Can I shout out to him?
Oh, my God, yeah. He's listening right now.
Yeah, I went to his house and I did a podcast a few years ago.
Fully Completely.
Is that the name?
Yeah, it was called Fully Completely Podcast.
Right.
And it was right when Gord was sick already.
And I was in town kind of living with him.
And so I took a cab up to Jamie's place
and did a very interesting interview and really cool.
So I'm sure I'll see you again, Jamie,
but you're good.
You're good.
He's going to love hearing that.
Yeah, Jamie D is a good FOTM.
So DJ Dream Doctor would like to know what your views are on the very first. I wanted to go back you're good you're good oh he's gonna love hearing that uh yeah jamie d is a good fotm so dj dream
doctor would like to know what your views are on the very first i wanted to go back i'm like okay
i have a limited time with paul i want to talk about your new music which is fantastic you're
gonna play live but i'm like i can't do a we're not gonna you can't do like a a walk through the
career of the tragically hip that would be several hours that we don't have here but i thought maybe
i'm gonna play a cut from the first
EP and then I'm going to ask this question
here. So we're going way back here, Tragically
Hip fans. Just brew this
in the background.
Just a little bit.
Okay, with Highway Girl simmering
in the background, DJ
Dream Doctor wants to know,
he says,
why didn't any songs from the first EP
make the greatest hits albums?
I guess he's talking about your favorites,
which keeps selling.
I just saw a release yesterday.
It hit another milestone in this country.
But DJ Dream Doctor thinks there are songs on the EP
that should have been on your favorites, and he wants to know why there weren't any probably complicated answer i mean i do believe
that your favorites was kind of voted on by the fans the 35 songs or whatever wouldn't surprise
me if highway girl and small town bring down and maybe even Last American Exit came in the top
35
and it wouldn't surprise me if we rejected
it because it was a record that we
still refer to as our baby
record and we still
I mean not so
much anymore but we were just kind of
we didn't feel like
in control of that record
like we were for Up to here in road apples which
came right after so um it's probably half our fault and half whoever voted their fault too
good answer actually and i will say uh there was a huge to me step up from this ep which is great
i listened to it all the time but up to here was
like whoa you know i i still remember listening to q107 and they played blow it high dough and
it was literally one of those like i went to my buddy joe and i said we're going downtown i got
a cd i gotta buy it sam's and it was like i need to own this like i gotta get this thing this is
unbelievable so uh big big step up there uh yeah what is that milestone
your favorites hits do you know i don't know i got a release yesterday like literally this last
week it was like jake knows right 1.5 million units sold for your favorites unbelievable even
though you know now is everyone thinks that's how you spell your you Y-E-R. Like, this is bad for our spelling.
Oh, yes.
I'm like, Greg, your job is to laugh at my jokes. Yeah, sorry, dude.
I got lost in your eyes.
I got lost.
Oh, my God.
I got lost in your eyes.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It happened at the same time.
Give us a moment, Paul.
We need just a moment here.
Okay.
Turn off the mics.
Wow.
Wow.
Okay.
Tyler Campbell, the VP of sales.
He says, Paul's harmonies were such a big part of the Tragically Hip sound.
What was his favorite song to sing on?
And then I'll get to, I don't want to get it confusing by asking all the questions at
once, so we'll stop right there.
Paul, what was your favorite Tragically Hip song to sing on?
It's so funny because
Gord Sinclair and I would get out of the way of each other
So it'd be like
No you go ahead man
You go ahead on every song
And he'd be like
No you go ahead
And we didn't discuss harmonies
I hate discussing harmonies
We didn't go to the piano and be like, ooh. Did you guys talk at all
in this band? It sounds like there's no communication
going on. No, we were just nice.
So it was like, no, you go ahead.
You grab this one. Well, one I was
very happy to grab and enjoyed
singing was Something On from Phantom Power.
We were just talking about Phantom Power.
Something On is
and I did that after the fact at the warehouse brian adams studio
and after we had recorded it in bath and i was just very happy that i i grabbed a part
just out of the air and um then i and after that really enjoyed singing it live
we mentioned earlier uh Rodeo.
At least we talked about...
Cutty.
Yeah.
So Blue Rodeo, you know, some songs are Cutty songs and some are not.
Yeah, some are Greg's.
Right, some are Greg's.
And some, let's talk about Sloan for a second.
I'm a big Sloan fan, okay?
Yeah.
There's four lead singers in that band.
So this is the second question from Tyler.
Good one, Tyler.
Okay.
Was there any thought that you or another member of the Tragically Hip
would sing lead on a song?
No, although once in North Bay in the early days
before we even recorded the Baby record,
I had a song called Broken Road,
which is the first song on my first record.
And I did it in soundcheck
because someone suggested, someone in the band suggested,
hey, we should do Broken Road.
Because I had just written it
and maybe I'd played it for one guy or something.
So that was the only time.
And no, it was never a consideration.
I mean, Gord was too good.
He wasn't playing guitar at the time, so what's he going to do?
So no, never a consideration.
It's sort of like when you find that B track of Nirvana's Marigold
and you go, oh, there's Dave Grohl.
It's the only song you can find of Nirvana
which doesn't have Kurt Cobain on lead vocals.
Look what happened next.
Well, I know, and you know what?
He got the confidence from Kurt Cobain.
I mean, that's why he is where he is in this business
is because he was in the band.
And that's, you know, there are born front men.
There are born singers and lyric writers, that kind of thing.
And there are others that learned it because of their experience.
Not comparing myself to Dave Grohl.
I'm just saying his experience with Nirvana elevated him to where he's at now.
And he's also apparently the nicest guy on rock and roll.
I've never met him, but.
I hear this too.
I thought it'd be Canadian.
You are.
So you're saying, you're saying, you're saying, yeah,
he's basically saying that Dave Grohl is the American version of the
Tragically Hitman.
Well, this is all I've heard about him is how nice he is.
So it's like, good.
You know, he's welcome here anytime.
For sure.
Rob Pruce.
So do you know the name Rob Pruce?
I think I do, yeah.
So Rob Pruce was the keyboardist for The Spoons.
Oh, yeah.
During their heyday, basically, their glory days there.
I saw The Spoons a couple times, actually.
He would like to know if your new band needs a keyboard player.
He'd love to be a member of your band.
You know, our guitar player, Joe, kind of hogs the keyboards in the studio.
Don't get Greg started.
Did I just get you started?
No, I'm fine.
I digress.
Rob's very good.
I'm just going to endorse him.
He played a TMLX event.
He's excellent.
And yeah, he was in Honeymoon Suite for a little bit after the spoons.
Was he?
Yeah.
You know, we're not really keyboard oriented.
And if we were, I would quit.
Greg would quit.
And I don't think Joe would really want anyone else playing keyboards or piano but him.
But thanks for the offer, and sorry about that.
Do you mind if I play in the background here?
We'll play a little bit of Guess What?
This is the title track from the new Paul Langlois band album here.
Why would you say no, right? Of course you can.
Why would you say no, right?
Of course you can.
It's piano.
If it can't be used If we don't know already
There's an easy way
We ain't gonna take it
Cause we're steady,
steady here,
steady there.
And you,
you and me,
we're always the same way.
And we see things together.
Every time.
Anytime.
Everywhere.
We see things together, yeah, yeah, all the time, yeah, you and me. We'll be right back. We're not gonna take it Cause we're steady Steady here, steady there, anywhere Yeah
You and me
And we're not fine
To see that there
Everyone
Everywhere
Everyone
Wants to be
Steady here, steady there, anywhere Yeah Everyone wants to be
Standing here, standing there, anywhere
You and me, we're holidays
Same way, we sing things together
Every time, yeah
Every time, yeah
You know it
And you and me know it too
It's true, you know
We know it too
That's what we do
We know the truth together
We know the truth together
Every time
Every time.
Guess what?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah. Hot damn, that's great.
Thanks a lot.
You're belting that out, man.
Thanks for playing that whole thing.
You know, I was going to bring it down,
but I was actually digging it.
Yeah, it sounded great.
It sounded great.
We have headphones on here, people,
and listening in the headphones, that really sounded good.
Thanks for playing the whole thing, Mike.
No, well, thanks for making that great music.
Okay, again, cooking with gas.
We don't have unlimited time.
Mike McIntyre.
I know Mike McIntyre from the Mimico Arena.
He was coaching my son's hockey team a couple years ago.
Hello, Mike.
Great guest, Mike.
Thanks, Mike.
A lot of Mikes here.
Thanks, Mike.
I'd love to know
how much material uh the hip record the yes sorry i make sure i say it right the hip recorded
together after man machine poem and if and when they might release this music so mike's asking
the fame but the big question we all want to know is is there any unreleased tragically hip
the tragically hip music out there that we will eventually hear?
Honestly, the only time we did,
we did it at Gord Downie's place
where he was radiation and chemo at the time
and it was before the last tour.
We all got together and we threw out
about you know four or five ideas so maybe one each and uh we did record that um but very
acoustically like johnny was playing on the couch the couch's arm and we were just playing acoustically
on the couch or the couch's arm and we were just playing acoustically uh i haven't listened to it i doubt anyone else has listened to it and they were four or five songs in the very beginning
of their development and so um not really no we there's not really anything post but there's a lot
of pre you know we record a lot more music
than people heard so and that's the
digging process
and trying to find the stuff and
release special
sort of unheard material
well that's like Saskadelphia and
so James Edgar that was his question
are there any hip surprises in the
hip vault and that
sounds like you're
going through the crates or whatever and digging up stuff right yeah and especially johnny fay um
is very very good at it he remembers all of it and or a lot more than we do he lives in toronto
which is very handy because you know the tapes are probably closer to Toronto than they are to Kingston. So that's an ongoing process and one that we enjoy.
And Johnny does a lot of hard work for that.
Now, Paul, I haven't said this yet,
but it goes without saying, I think, maybe on some level.
But my condolences to you because, you know,
Gord Downie wasn't just the lead singer of the Tragically Hip,
but you guys were very close, and I'm just sorry for your loss, man.
Oh, thanks very much.
Yep, thanks.
I'd never been through that before.
My mother passed away since, but when Gord died,
I knew he was going to die.
We all did.
Yeah, it was just, I hadn't really even been through that before.
And, you know, honestly, the band took basically a year and a half
from even talking to each other.
We didn't do what you probably should do is go, you know,
to a counselor or something.
We all went through our grief in different ways and individually and then
eventually we found our way back to each other well everybody you know grieves differently that's
one thing for sure so there's no one size fits all there but you found your way back well thanks a
lot mike thanks for uh even mentioning that buffalo boy wants to know is uh paul you're gonna
with your band are you gonna visit buffalo well yeah ideally
yeah you know there's complications with um work visas and that kind of stuff but uh no buffalo
is close to my heart why because they were uh as supportive a city as we could ever come across the hip and um and so i would love to
play buffalo we're kind of just playing a couple festivals this summer a few and uh we got maybe
three or four more and then we'll just see what happens you know it's it's um i don't have a need
to really get out on the road but greg would happily be on the road for the rest of my life.
Let's do it for Greg.
Do it for Greg.
That would be nice.
We'd like to.
You had a good experience of Don Smith, right?
This was a positive experience.
Oh yeah, he was great.
I just watched a screener copy
of a new Lowest of the Low documentary
called The Subversives. I just watched it last week. I'm a big fan of Lowest of the Low documentary called The Subversives. I just watched it
last week. I'm a big fan
of Lowest of the Low as well. That is out?
It's out already. No, it's not out yet.
You've got to know people. For you, it might be
out, but that'd be a side conversation.
No, I just thought that's good to know.
I think the premiere, I want to say the premiere is in late
September or something at the Rivoli, and then
it'll be somewhere. But anyway, it's just interesting
to hear their Don Smith story and how it is so different from your don
smith experience they had a because the second uh so the first big album is shakespeare my butt and
then they do their second album with don smith and it's it's a horrific experience for the band and
you hear him talking about it wrong and everything yeah just terrible i know he's passed away since
so we won't you know but i was just just just for the record though the tragically have had a positive experience of don smith
oh my god yeah like he made us i think you know like if we hadn't had him as a producer
i think things could have really gone sideways like he really was just like just do what you do, and I'll capture the sound.
He was a dude, so, you know, I'm trying to picture what the lowest of low would,
what the bad experience was.
Well, I can tell you, because he did tell it on my show,
and I'm not spoiling the dog,
but Don was blatantly racist in the presence of the band members,
and it caused a huge friction.
This is a story told by, again, Ron Hawkins in my
backyard on Toronto Mike. I'm just
quoting him.
Another one, okay.
On that note. That's good timing.
Honestly, that
actually shocks me.
Afterwards, I'll tell you the quote
after we finish recording.
He was a Texas guy that had moved to L.A.
And I don't know.
I don't think we ever really discussed race.
It didn't come up.
Not that I know of, no.
I think he would have had a serious problem with really all of us or a few of us
if it had gone that way and i think we
yeah i mean we recorded in memphis and then in new orleans and so it would have uh
been obvious but if they say that hey that's that's uh right that's their thing and i'm
sorry to hear that it's a good dog you're gonna dig it actually it's a good dog okay yeah i don't want to watch it anymore he's tapping out brian smith goes this is the tragically
hip related question paul's uh sorry your last show that's the yours the tragically hip your
last show in london uh the set was cut short according to the set list that was posted the
last song played had no drummer what happened with him why was the last song not played on the set list
do you know what brian's talking about well i know what the last song was because i wrote the set
list last song was little bones and the the song before that you know was our second encore
was fiddler's green so we ended it with fiddler's green um you know uh i think this is okay um johnny had an issue he was feeling funny and
faint and so it was like the decision was made okay he's got to leave and then the decision
that very good decision was made we're're not playing Little Bones without Johnny.
So it was just like, okay, see you later.
And he was okay in the end.
Good.
But he actually did get taken to the hospital and checked out
just because he was maybe overheated
or I don't know if there was ever a determination,
but it was nothing serious.
I'm glad it was nothing serious.
Yeah.
That's what matters most here.
I have a question now,
which is one of my favorite
Tragically Hip,
the Tragically Hip songs
was 38 Years Old.
Loved it,
but I think it was up to seeing you guys live
11, 12 times.
I had never heard you guys play
38 Years Old live.
I then finally, though,
at Fort York,
I'm at Fort York
wearing my Bill Borilco jersey,
okay? I have a retro Bill Borilco jersey. I'm at Fort York. I'm at Fort York wearing my Bill Borilco jersey. Okay, I have a retro
Bill Borilco jersey.
I'm at Fort York
and you guys break into
38 years old.
So my question is,
is there a specific reason
why you guys never
seem to play it live?
You know,
Gord hated it.
Well, that's a good reason, actually.
That's a good fucking reason.
That was the main reason. Gord hated it well that's a good reason actually that's a good that was the main reason
gourd hated it he was just bummed he became bummed uh after a while maybe a year of playing it
that he said my older brother mike you know he has a mic yeah my sister got raped and man got
killed and and he was just so mad at himself for actually name checking his actual
brother mike that he was like he just decided it was a stupid song and he didn't like it
and we're like you know there's a lot of people in prison who love it and the crowd really loves
it you know you want to do that it took a lot of years to sort of get him to back in a spot where
he wanted to play it and he did
get there but it just well yeah i saw it i finally saw it yeah i finally saw it at fort york which
was a great show actually and uh i just find the things you remember from shows it's like i'm used
to being like gouged for like my my beverages and my food when i have them at concerts like i'm just
used to but for some reason at fort y, in the back of the field there,
there was like get a drink.
I think it was like get a beer and a dog.
And it was like five bucks.
And I can't tell if I dreamt that or not,
but like five bucks for a beer and a dog
at any concert.
Right, Greg?
That's crazy, right?
I'm so hungry right now, actually.
Okay.
Again, cooking with gas.
We're going to get a live performance.
Now I'm doing the
math i don't know one of you guys will have to draw straws okay but i have at least two in my
freezer right now two frozen lasagnas from palma pasta i'm these are delicious they're big they're
delicious and uh courtesy of palma pasta you guys are gonna draw straws maybe you're getting it oh
jake's giving it to you jake you guys paul and greg oh i have uh i think jake and i are gonna grow old
together you should you know he's a good manager he's a good manager we've only just met and we
wouldn't it's not gonna work i uh after working after our uh our first thing at um in toronto
the sugar beach sugar beach yeah thing uh jake came up and i was like uh so am i fired and he in Toronto, the Sugar Beach. Sugar Beach. Yeah. Thing,
Jake came up and I was like,
so am I fired?
And he was like,
not yet.
He was lost in your eyes.
Okay,
that's what's going there.
All right,
so we already had the great beer.
Thank you,
Great Lakes.
Okay,
so I just want to shout out
really quickly,
recyclemyelectronics.ca.
This is the great website
from EPRA.
It's funny
because Jake is a big tennis guy.
Jake plays tennis with Cliff Hacking who is an FOTM from EPRA. It's funny because Jake is a big tennis guy. Jake plays tennis with Cliff
Hacking, who is an FOTM
from EPRA, and they're behind
recyclemyelectronics.ca.
If you have any old tech, any old
electronics, old devices, don't throw it in the garbage
because those chemicals end up in the landfill.
But you can go to recyclemyelectronics.ca
and find a safe place
that they've accredited near you.
Drop it off off it'll get
recycled properly that's your margin orders right right there and last but not least
shout out to ridley funeral home pillars of this community since 1921 great podcast there from uh
from brad jones at ridley funeral home it's called life's undertaking you
guys should subscribe and listen and i get to co-host that show so it's a lot of fun
all right final questions here because i don't want anyone to think they sent me questions i
didn't get to it uh pj pat says please ask why this is kind of related to that first ep we were
talking about people think that you're not giving enough love to that self-titled ep but uh please
ask the tragragically Hip
why they stopped playing songs off their first release
as their career progressed.
There are great songs on that EP.
People are angry, Paul.
Where is these songs from the EP?
No, I know.
And, you know, over the years,
we talked to a lot of fans, you know,
because we always talked to them after the show,
and we heard that a lot and you know
the only answer is we just didn't want to play them i mean i don't know why it was just kind of
like uh we felt like our career started our our recording career started with up to here and we
were wrong we were wrong because highway girl i mean there's a lot of
good songs on there i'm a werewolf baby you know but i got sick of doing that one because gordon
attacking me all the time like there were just various reasons um to not do those songs so um
yeah so you know we we just didn't do it uh would you take a moment before you get into your jam there
would you take a moment maybe and say something about
Danny Graves I know I'm calling this guy out of the blue here
but I understand you guys are pretty tight and I will say that
Danny Graves drove all the way to Great Lakes Brewery in Southern
Etobicoke to sing acoustic for FOTMs
who had gathered for TMLX I I think that was TMLX 10.
And he's an absolute sweetheart, and he's so good to the show.
He's been on multiple times, and I'm a big Danny Graves fan.
But are you guys still tight?
Yeah, Greg and I just played with him at the workshop section of Mariposa.
So we played.
The Paul Anglois band played Saturday night,
and then the next day
greg um thankfully stuck around and um we played a few songs and and danny got up and uh sang uh
bob cajun yes with us and uh he's great sweetheart played it played harmonica harp and and uh just
beautiful and obviously he's he's a very sweet singer and a very sweet person.
Well, there's an idea.
We do a one-off show with Danny Graves singing with the surviving members of the Tragically Hip.
Yeah, you know, I mean, he'd certainly be a candidate, but we're not doing that right now.
Never say never.
Never say never.
Once a wise man once told me, never say never.
How's your golf game before we get to your jam?
How's your golf game going?
It's, you know, not too good.
But it's fine.
It's fine.
I don't really care about it.
I like to get out.
I'm not getting out much.
But, you know, here and there, once every week or two.
And so that's good.
And you know what?
I wanted to say one more thing.
Of course.
Mike, I've done a couple interviews for this record and i haven't mentioned adam casper
who mixed this record okay massive favor he he produced in between evolution he's a seattle guy
so if you ever pearl jam maybe pearl jam foo fighters i know
this name sound garden he is a dude a dude upon a dude like he is and he's so chill and he's so nice
and we just happened to because adam casper was in the top of my contacts so i just happened to
as we were about to record a month later i just saw his name
and i thought oh i'm going to email him and i paid him a bunch of money to mix hugh dylan's record
that his first solo record that i produced right and um so i thought hey you know and so i emailed
him hey you bastard you remember i paid you all this money? And just kidding. And he got back, and he's like, oh, my God, you know,
I hope you made your money back.
And anyway, we started talking, and he's like, I'll mix your record.
I said I was going to the studio.
He said, I'll do it.
And I'm like, ah.
And anyway, he was like, no, I'll do it, and I'm not going to, you know,
he could charge.
No invoice?
Yeah, he could charge so much.
Anyway, he really, I worked very closely with him after we recorded,
and he was so, besides being so generous, he's just so good,
and he mixed this record.
It's kind of like exciting, right, Greg?
Adam Casper mixed this record. it's a big fucking deal it's
a big big deal did you just do this work are we on the radio this is not radio did you think you
were on i'm not gonna start jake i'm not i i just got the look he doesn't care if you swear he's
kind of anyway it is a big fucking deal it's a a big fucking deal. And I just want to say that.
I just want to say that.
Adam Casper,
that is a big,
and that's a name I know.
I'm a big Pro Jam fan too.
And I know this name.
This is a big fucking deal.
He's great.
And he's so chill.
And he actually did,
there's two songs on your favorites of the hip.
No Threat and the New Maybe,
which were kind of additional new songs.
Yeah.
And he came to bath and recorded it and it
was winter and he's like oh my god it's like as we were reminiscing about it and he's like it's
like frozen tundra out there you know and we took him on the lake on the frozen lake and stuff
anyway he was he's a super dude okay good to hear i think glad you shedded him out this is the moment
here because i just saw the clock and I'm a good
producer. I saw Jake and I said, oh, I
promised him we wouldn't take forever here.
So, you can set it up. I don't
know. Do we need another mic? I don't even know.
Are we okay? I don't think so.
I just might aim this down
a little bit. Go nuts.
A little bit, yeah. Because I could
get another mic if you wanted. No, because
I'll aim it down a bit and I'll sing down here.
Okay, so this is a song on our new record,
Paul Langlois Band, Guess What, is the name of the record.
The song's called I Feel Real Yo. You hold on
You hold on to yourself
There's nothing wrong
You're in between
They'll come and pass like water
Through the seams of their cries
And the damage to your mind
You'll let them get away
Cause you don't want them to stay
I'll take you to the garden light
Take you to the riverside
And play me something warm and bright
Through the night
So I can feel like you see me, like I'm real
You hold on, keep holding on to yourself
There's nothing wrong wrong you're in between
the common
past life
through the scene
of their cries
and the damage
to your mind
you'll let them get away
cause you don't
want them to stay
I'll take you to the garden lights
And take you to the riverside
And play me something warm and bright
Through the night
So I can feel like you see me
Like I'm real
Sometimes I get the feeling
Like I'm falling down
Try to resist and let go
But it just hangs around
Sometimes it doesn't work out
Just on my own
And I can't do it alone
So you hold on
Holding on to yourself
There's nothing wrong
You're just in between
They'll come and pass like water
Through the seams
Amazing.
Oh my, I can cross this off my bucket list here.
Get a member of the Tragically Hip to play live in my basement.
Paul, that was incredible.
Greg, you were great.
Oh, thanks.
Loved it so much.
Amazing.
Okay.
What's next for you guys?
Like, I know you did breakfast television
and then you came here and what's that like like is this the new the new world we live in now where
it's like okay we got to do breakfast television then we got to get to toronto mike's basement i
think that's really cool you're here man well as uh as greg's wife uh zoe said to me a couple of days ago, she's like, you got to do that stuff.
Because I was complaining about having to do interviews and stuff because records came out Friday.
She's like, you're not going to have the opportunity, like at the end of July, to have all this stuff.
The record's coming out now.
You have to do what you have to do.
Because I was complaining I had to arrive at breakfast television at 6 a.m. this stuff. The record's coming out now. You have to do what you have to do. Because I was complaining
I had to arrive at breakfast television
at 6 a.m. this morning.
And I considered staying up.
But I didn't.
Really good thing you didn't.
Are you sure you didn't?
Because you guys did crack open a Great Lakes beer at 9.38.
No, I forced myself to bed at 1.30.
But Zoe said, and I like it, and Jake would say it too, anyone would say it,
it's like you only have the opportunity of the release is where you have to sort of anything you can get.
And that's not why I'm here, Mike, because this was overdue, our interview here, okay?
I really appreciate you being here.
So I'm not considering this like a release interview.
This is just
something that we know and twisted your arm so to not at all but i have to take advantage of
any opportunity so this is going to last a few days then we're going to play some shows and then
we'll see what happens you know hopefully people out there like it and hopefully we have uh you
know people that want to see us play
and we'll see what happens.
But I don't care much.
I know you don't care except
you should be at least aware
that it's a great album and
I'm glad you're still making music.
Man, in order of appreciation,
not in any particular order, but I do want to thank
Greg Ball for being here. You played live.
Thank you very much, Mike.
Yay, Greg.
You earned your palma pasta lasagna.
I got to drive back to Kingston.
I think I'm going to leave it.
You should eat it.
Oh, well, I got four kids, man.
I always need food, so for sure.
And Jake Gold, got to shout out the great FOTM Jake Gold.
Always a pleasure.
I love talking to Jake, and thank you, Jake.
I'm waving to Jake right now
and of course Paul Angois
making his Toronto Mike debut
it was just incredible for me
and I hope you enjoyed it as well
it was fun Mike
you do a great job
and that
brings us to the end of our
1292nd is that right?
Yes, 92nd episode.
You can follow me on Twitter.
I'm at Toronto Mike.
Paul, you're like Paul at Paul Langlois 101, I want to say.
Does that sound familiar to you?
Yep, that's my Twitter account.
Yeah, which I've been locked out.
I haven't brought that up, but yeah, I'm locked out of it.
Well, I used to know somebody, but I don't know anyone anymore, so I haven't brought that up. But yeah, I'm locked out of it. Well, I used to know somebody,
but I don't know anyone anymore.
So I can't help you anymore.
Our friends at Great Lakes Brewery
are at Great Lakes Beer.
You thought rural was tough to say.
I can't say brewery, but okay.
Palma Pasta is at Palma Pasta.
Getting Hip to the Hip is at Getting Hip Pod.
Again, that's a Tragically Hip cover band
and more.
Everybody should come out and join me
at that event,
gettinghiptothehip.com.
Recycle My Electronics are at EPRA underscore Canada.
The Moment Lab are at The Moment Lab.
And Ridley Funeral Home are at Ridley FH.
See you all later this week
when my special guest is,
check's calendar, Robert Priest.
See you then. Yeah, the wind is cold, but the smell of snow won't be today.
And your smile is fine, and it's just like mine, and it won't go away. Because everything is rosy and gray.